Recent advances in personalized medicine have been accompanied by increasing recognition of image-guided interventions. Two critical needs have to be addressed before image-guided intervention plays a key role in precision medicine ? the successful application of imaging as a predictive biomarker of therapeutic efficacy and the development of devices to identify, sample, and monitor target tissues. The goal is to develop a set of intraoperative devices through synergistic interactions of technical and biomedical expertise and deliver prototypic software tools/devices enabled by 3D Slicer.
Aim 1 Intraoperative needle guidance for prostate biopsy and ablation We will create, test, and validate image-guidance software to address needle deflection and provide an optimal insertion path for in-bore MRI-guided biopsy and ablation of prostate cancer.
This aim will deliver a complete set of tools namely-a transperineal template with fine grid pattern and guidance software that takes into account needle deflection.
Aim 2. Development of an intraoperative visualization and navigation for lung surgery. We will develop an augmented reality (AR)-guided navigation system for laparoscopic lung surgery to be integrated with novel computer vision and machine learning algorithms to compensate for lung deformation. We will also develop machine- learning based feature descriptors to accurately track anatomical features from stereo laparoscopic images.
Aim 3 : Technical development of an implantable microdevice with integrated retrieval mechanism. We will develop new implantable microdevice (IMD) prototypes that have integrated retrievability for difficult to access tissues such as the brain-within a focal tumor -each IMD contains up to 20 individual wells for installation of drugs. We will use image guidance for optimal placement - in the tumor, to allow focal and controlled release of these drugs and then image guided device retrieval (removal). Once the image guided retrieval the IMD is removed with a ?cuff? or rim of tissue, this will undergo pathological analysis to discover if an adequate amount of tissue is present and then analyzes of local tissue/tumor response. Collaborating projects will be benefitted by incorporating novel and clinically tested devices and associated software made possible in the TRD 3.